LyteYear

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president and founder of a behavioral marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LyteYear Group?

We sought a digital partner to market our client accounts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They identified digital marketing strategies for our clients and did SEO for those accounts. They also managed Google Ad campaigns.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Lauren (Co-Founder, LyteYear Group).

How did you come to work with LyteYear Group?

We did an online search. LyteYear Group’s competence and experience impressed us during interviews. They inspired confidence and demonstrated strong communication skills.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000—$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2018 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

LyteYear Group’s innovative approaches have resulted in a satisfying relationship.

How did LyteYear Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They have excellent communication skills and the team is easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is accessible and knowledgeable, and they take a lot of pride in their work. We have established a strong rapport with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t seen any issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and owner of Eyeful Media, a consultancy focused on e-commerce strategy, SEO strategy, and paid search. We work with both B2C and B2B companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LyteYear Group?

OUr challenge was that I needed additional paid search expertise to support several of our consulting clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LyteYear Group helps with strategic projects and sometimes with execution. They’re currently helping one of our B2B clients with paid search and paid social strategy. Patrick (digital marketing consultant, LyteYear Group) analyzed initial paid search opportunities and is now also executing their campaigns.

We also worked together in the past when we were hired by a large advertising agency out of Dallas. I worked with Patrick to audit the work that they were doing on behalf of their clients, and we also built a playbook that their team could execute off of to ensure consistency. We have worked on several projects together over the course of the past nine months.

What is the team composition?

Patrick is the only person I work with from Lyte Year Group directly. I know that he has other folks behind the scenes that assist him and have spoken with them. But I don't interact with them day to day.

How did you come to work with LyteYear Group?

One of my other colleagues and Patrick worked together in the past. He introduced us.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2018 and continue to work together; I plan to continue working with Patrick for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It's hard to speak to specific metrics, but several clients have started implementing LyteYear Group’s recommendations. Overall they've exceeded my expectations in terms of expertise in paid search. My clients are big fans of Patrick's, and I never hesitate to put him directly in front of clients. Because of the success with our initial engagements, we’re continuing to work together on bigger and bigger deals.

How did LyteYear Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Patrick and I speak or text nearly every day. We're in constant communication because we are working together on multiple client engagements at any given time and even pitch clients jointly. It’s critical that he has strong communication skills, and he has delivered. In, general, I think of him as a key partner that I can lean on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Patrick has the ability to think through things strategically and can also distill complex topics down in a way that’s easy for clients to grasp. It's always nice to work with someone that is smart and kind at the same time, and that matched with a deep knowledge in an ever-changing area is the most impressive thing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Analyte Health is in the business of helping consumers better manage their health by giving them access to and better understanding of diagnostics test information. We make it easier for them to obtain clinical laboratory information about various aspects of their health. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LyteYear Group?

As a digital marketing based company, that’s how we acquire our customers. Some of the techniques that we were employing had become stagnant, and we looked to LyteYear to update our digital marketing best practices both on the SEO as well as the SEM side.

We had been doing everything in-house with a learned manual process. We’d been doing things the same way for 3-4 years, and it wasn’t sufficient to create any growth in the business. We were losing market share to new competitors, and we wanted a new perspective and fresh execution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked them to take over the guidance and the execution of our paid search efforts. They managed and re-designed our AdWords campaigns. On the SEO side, they augmented our approach with 3-4 unique tactics to drive that. They did creative backlinks and re-designed our pages, meta tags, headers, content, as well as the physical layout.

They also helped with our blog content strategy in terms of what to post, where, when and so forth. They came up with novel approaches on who we should attempt to establish backlinks with. They investigated the earned media searches and helped us re-apportion the weight of the web pages to drive folks toward those that were showing up more on the SEO side. Then, they worked to take them from that SEO-driven acquisition into a higher conversion page.

We guided them through our site flows and consumer behavior from the landing page and they improved them so we ended up with much better conversion as a result.

What they did with our keyword research is similar to what they did on the SEO side. They re-apportioned what we’re spending and where we’re putting our focus because even though some of these things don’t convert at the same rate, volumes are much higher.

What is the team dynamic?

We formed a joint project team which included a key person from our technical, marketing, and financial planning and analysis on our side, together with the LyteYear team. We integrated the LyteYear folks into our weekly operations meetings and established a weekly project meeting after going live. Leading up to going live, the project team collaborated on a daily basis.

How did you come to work with LyteYear Group?

What we were looking for was knowledge, expertise, and experience, and we found that with the LyteYear team. The depth of their technical expertise is readily apparent when you talk to this team. We were also looking for a group that was really nimble. We were introducing new things so we didn’t mind experimenting, but we also wanted the flexibility to react to the outcome of those experiments quickly. We knew that not all those experiments were going to work, and we wanted someone with a broad base of experience and ideas that we could do new things with, and quickly end the ones that didn’t work and build on the ones that did.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend more than $10,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May or June of this year, and we are still partnering with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since they joined us, SEO performance is up 15%-20%.

How did LyteYear Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve managed the project very well. We receive a status report and dashboard every Thursday before our weekly Friday meetings. It’s a well-managed process. We usually use some version of video conferencing like Skype and email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It goes back to why we originally chose them. We were impressed by their depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise, together with their willingness to be nimble and move quickly, and their business acumen to create and envision experiments that are tied to strategy. Because they’ve got a product management background with the folks that are on their project team on their side, they do a good job of understanding what the underlying business drivers are and creating a set of tactics and experiments against that and seeing what works.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We’re in the business of smart experiments, and we’re getting that for sure. We’re in a good spot.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My name is John, and I am the CEO and Co-founder of a mobile app which helps restaurants and other businesses manage their walk-in patrons waiting in line for service. We not only text them when the service is ready, but also help the business market to them, while they wait, and help retain that business. My tech partner and I are the only full-time members of the company, but I have four other part-time employees. We’re located in Chicago.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LyteYear Group?

We were launching a whole digital marketing campaign. I’m more used to direct sales, in terms of calls and going door-to-door (which we did in the beginning, as an early-stage startup). The purpose of bringing in LyteYear was to improve our paid advertising campaigns, SEO, and overall digital marketing. I had worked with a smaller group previously.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

LyteYear cleaned up our paid advertising platforms, helping with keywords and SEO. They have a staff member who specializes solely on SEO. Other than this, LyteYear assessed our different client-facing portals and platforms, our app-store page especially. It was hard to find a marketing company which had experience with app-store pages, but LyteYear’s team had a lot of insight into this, and did a competitive analysis for us.

So far, it’s mainly been paid ads, SEO strategy for our website and app-store page, as well as email campaigns. I had my own keywords, but didn’t have any data around them. LyteYear helped me replace some keywords with others that had higher search results.

LyteYear audited the workflow of acquiring a customer through email, going over a lot of the copy I had, and making suggestions. We haven’t fully launched this, but it’s in progress.

We’re a B2B company, but we also help the end-user, waiting patrons, and LyteYear helped me focus in on whom we wanted to target, in terms of copy and language. One of the biggest problems was that many designers thought that there would be an app for patrons to download and check their positions online, but we only require the restaurant to do this, in order to add someone to the wait list. We simply text-message the guests when their tables are ready. In terms of copy language, and whom we’re addressing our marketing content to, it was distracting to have these customers download the app and call us asking how they can register if they don’t have a business. In that sense, it was a barrier we’ve worked on with LyteYear to overcome.

How did you come to work with LyteYear Group?

It was through a referral from my tech partner. When I met with Lauren [Co-founder, LyteYear Group], I discovered that she came from a product background, and had a lot of marketing expertise. As a startup, we value people with experience in more than one field. She had many of the things I was looking for, but was also well-rounded in other skills. LyteYear works with startups all the time, so they’re affordable, but another big plus was that they’re not just marketing people—LyteYear really understood our model and vision from the business end, which helped me decide to choose them. For a marketing team to market my vision, they also had to understand the stages of development, and their team got the initiative we were focusing on.

I’ve worked with other marketing companies in the past, and want to share my vision, but I also want to be careful, since it can be distracting. With LyteYear, they got the vision, but also helped me stay focused on short-term priorities.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost has been between $5,000 and $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with LyteYear in June 2017 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still in the middle of assessing metrics because we’ve had to take a pause while going through a rebranding exercise, but we’re steadily growing in terms of how many customers we acquire per week. I haven’t seen the newer initiatives put to test. We’re about to turn on the paid ads and see what LyteYear is capable of, in terms of understanding our branding initiatives. The app-store page was redesigned by them, and we are getting better-quality leads, but the social media has also been put on pause. 

How did LyteYear Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is great. I value communication and organization, and LyteYear has exceeded my expectations there. Lauren and my other contact are on time with weekly meetings, flexible and realistic with what they’re going to deliver. If they can’t meet those deadlines, they make sure to communicate it to me. I’ve also been in touch with a third person. We usually have videoconferences, but also try to meet once or twice per month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility and patience in working with a startup team, in terms of budget and coming in at the right time. LyteYear understands that we wear many hats, and have designers which fill in when they have the time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any real critiques at the moment. LyteYear has great ideas, but they can be passive at times. They want my approval, but I’m also looking for their experience on the marketing end, to make the final decision or at least point me in the right direction.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director of a health care technology company that produces medical information to promote better patient outcomes. Our company makes equipment, hardware, and software that displays messaging and educational content in doctor’s offices, waiting rooms, exam rooms, and related venues. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LyteYear Group?

We were about to launch a new type of product that involves a lot of online activity, and we needed someone to provide senior-level product management and obtain initial approvals. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company was launching a new product and needed a way to get initial approvals. The product integrates with internal systems and is a broad and large-scale effort. LyteYear produced the executive briefing deck, as well as all the background and presentation materials. This included a product description, message of value to clients, and the reasoning behind the project. Lauren [Co-Founder, LyteYear Group] put together the deck, added data about costs and benefits, and presented the results to a founder of the company when we attempted to get approval for the project. I acted as the general manager of the product, and Lauren and I handled the internal roadshow to promote sales.

I had worked with a company that offered a similar product, so I leveraged that expertise in promoting the overall goal of the product. LyteYear put my idea together, repackaged it, and expanded our scope to meet our company’s goals and new approach. 

LyteYear essentially managed the project, provided guidance on the overall approach, and assisted with the marketing of the product. They collected requirements from internal clients via interviews, as most of the product’s future users were internal. They reviewed the existing requirements, edited them to ensure relevance, and put together an approach plan. LyteYear also added use cases for the total effort and compiled a roadmap of the 3 major phases of the project, spanning 2 years.

What is the team dynamic?

We just worked with Lauren.

How did you come to work with LyteYear Group?

Lauren had worked for our company prior to starting LyteYear Group. We liked her work and wanted to keep her onboard. We knew LyteYear would deliver what we wanted.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent between $10,000 and $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with LyteYear in June 2016, and the project is still ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still focused on internal selling, so at this stage the project had to be scoped properly. Lauren concisely explained complex ideas using clear wording. Whenever we needed to have something changed or clarified, she would react promptly and deliver something outstanding. She contributed senior-level quality work all the time, which is valuable but hard to find.

Lauren also developed a great rapport with our customers because she communicates so well. She could provide any detail they wanted, and they had a lot of confidence in her because she’s so knowledgeable. She’s nailed every task we’ve asked her to complete.

How did LyteYear Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication and responsiveness have been excellent. We had project meetings with just the 2 of us and held 1–2 client meetings each week that Lauren led and I attended. We updated our internal clients on the project’s status as we moved through the different phases and received funding approval. We used email and Slack to communicate and collaborated using Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lauren is confident and experienced. I was impressed with her ability to converse professionally with people from all corporate levels.

Compared to other firms, LyteYear’s work never had to be edited; it was usually good to go on from the first draft. In my experience, this isn’t the norm. Their quality of work is superior.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything they did was exactly what we wanted. They are quite senior, which minimized many potential issues. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Zero Foxtrot.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell military lifestyle apparel via eCommerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire LyteYear to accomplish?

• Acquire new customers at scale
• Diversify our performance marketing channel mix
• Hit specific ROAS targets

SOLUTION

How did you find LyteYear?

Referral

Why did you select LyteYear over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from LyteYear were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We engaged Lyteyear with the primary objective of diversifying our channel mix, which was heavily skewed towards Facebook, accounting for 90% of our advertising budget. Their task was to scale our Google ads program significantly. This involved a comprehensive overhaul of both our Google Shopping and text ads, requiring a deep dive into the structure and performance of our existing campaigns. 

In addition to their focus on Google, they were also tasked with restructuring our Facebook account. This facet of their work included refining our targeting strategies and optimizing our creative content. A key part of their approach was working in close collaboration with our internal creative team, providing valuable insights and guidance to align our creative strategy more effectively with the broader goals of our digital advertising efforts.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The partnership significantly transformed our digital marketing strategy. They achieved a 140% increase in sales from new customers while improving our ROAS. Their efforts successfully diversified our channel mix, elevating Google's role alongside Facebook. This shift led to a more balanced and effective advertising strategy. Additionally, our overall conversion rate from performance marketing activities improved dramatically, reflecting better targeting and more engaging ad content.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They began implementing strategies immediately upon contract signing, leading to swift, noticeable results. Their approach involves quickly identifying our requirements and then rapidly building and deploying a strategy around them. They excel in communication, keeping us updated with real-time results and adeptly pivoting strategies based on these outcomes. This dynamic and responsive method ensures our campaigns are continually optimized for the best performance.

What was your primary form of communication with LyteYear?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The unique appeal lies in their hands-on, boutique approach, combined with the expertise of a large agency. Despite being a smaller firm, they possess extensive experience from working with major clients, offering us top-tier agency expertise with a more personalized touch. 

They integrate seamlessly with our team, almost as if they were an internal unit, ensuring strategies and solutions are closely aligned with our specific needs. Their in-depth knowledge and tailored service are key factors in the success of our digital marketing initiatives.

Are there any areas for improvement or something LyteYear could have done differently?

None that immediately come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at ClearGage

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Healthcare Payment Solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire LyteYear to accomplish?

• Lead Generation
• SEM
• SEO

SOLUTION

How did you find LyteYear?

• Referral
• Existing Relationship

Why did you select LyteYear over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from LyteYear were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• SEO: SEO audits, analyses, recommendations on landing page optimizations. 
• SEM: The restructure and ongoing management, optimization, KPI tracking, and reporting on the Google AdWords account and program. 
• Paid Social: The launch and ongoing management of ClearGage’s Paid Social including meta and Linkedin.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Increased MQL conversions by 58%.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items were consistently delivered and discussed in weekly calls. Ad hoc requests would be completed within same day or 48 hours.

What was your primary form of communication with LyteYear?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was impressed by the team and their knowledge of each platform they support.

Are there any areas for improvement or something LyteYear could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am director of Digital Marketing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LyteYear, and what were your goals?

PPC management

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Great results in lowering PPC and delivering incremental revenue

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

PPC management

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

4

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Great lift in PPC revenue

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

good communication

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We are impressed with their attention to detail.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

great PPC agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Llama Lead Gen, a digital marketing company that focuses on social media marketing, specifically B2B lead generation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LyteYear?

Google Ads and SEO

What were your goals for this project?

Generate cost-effective and high quality leads

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on Clutch

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Lauren and Patrick and the rest of their team were extremely helpful in guiding us through the whole process and we achieved great results.

What was the team composition?

Lauren and Patrick with a few other team members

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We generated quality and consistent leads each month due to their SEO and Google Ads efforts!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Lauren is great at communication and we used project management tools to communicate as well as weekly meetings/check-ins.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their pricing. They give oodles of marketing insight from previous full-time experiences and package it in start-up friendly prices.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None! Keep doing what you've been doing. I will recommend to anyone who needs marketing help. Lauren and Patrick were a pleasure to work with.